CINCINNATI – Before the Astros ever match the successes of the Cincinnati Reds, who are now 40.5 games ahead of them after the Reds took Saturday’s meeting 5-1, the Astros will match their problems.

You might think that 84-56 teams don’t have problems, but trust that the Reds have problems.

They have a corner infielder with a very good bat and no place really to put him, so they let Todd Frazier back up Joey Votto at first and Scott Rolen at third and he’s turned into a Rookie of the Year candidate.

That’s the small problem. The big problem, such as these kind of problems go, will come when Billy Hamilton is big league ready – or at least the team decides he is after they decided not to call him up to build on his minor league record 155 stolen bases in the majors.

He’s a shortstop, but so is rookie Zack Cozart. So is elite prospect Didi Gregorius, whom they did call up. You can’t move him to second base with Brandon Phillips – who hit the go-ahead home run Saturday – there, so there could be some outfield in his future.

What a shame. Depth on depth on depth.

The process of getting there has begun in Houston. While there is plenty of mobility throughout most of a down organization, the Astros did have their first instance in a while of a blocked prospect when Jose Altuve stood in Jimmy Paredes’ way.

So Paredes vacated second base in favor of the outfield, though he was at second again Saturday with Altuve’s strained abdominal muscle.

Maybe some day it will happen with their own speedster in Delino DeShields Jr., who seems to have no path if Altuve does remain consistently good (and consistently an Astro, which is never a guarantee).

But copious decisions of that sort like the Reds have had to make are a long way away even with the trades of this July.

And all that depth is why even if the Reds do cough up a game like Friday’s, they’re not going to be vulnerable to a long losing streak. They recovered quite nicely Saturday night, overcoming a first-inning run and then putting the Astros away methodically behind seven strong innings from Bronson Arroyo.

After Justin Maxwell put the Astros ahead in the first inning for the second straight night – this time with an RBI single – the Reds started blasting.

Jay Bruce went 421 feet away to tie it in the second and Phillips scraped the top of the wall for a 2-1 lead in the third.

A three-hit, three-walk sixth inning by Bud Norris and Fernando Rodriguez, put this game out of reach with Norris allowing five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He later said that his blister problem was still bothering him and lamented the ballpark’s size with the Phillips blast kissing the wall at 368 in the alley.

“They’re a good hitting team, there’s nothing against them,” Norris said. “I really thought I made only one really bad pitch and that was the first solo shot to Bruce. I thought Phillips put a great swing on that pitch and I threw it where I wanted. It definitely plays small and I think everybody knows that by now.”

The lead kept Aroldis Chapman in the bullpen after the game’s best closer blew the save Friday night. Instead it was Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton, both of whom could be closers most other places, finishing it off. The depth knows little end.

So yes, the Astros can play for one night with a team that is absolutely loaded as they showed in their dramatic win Friday. But over 162 games, all that depth in Cincinnati is going to be overpowering, and there’s more on the way.

And that’s the goal in Houston.

Astros 5, Reds 3

Tipping point: Aroldis Chapman sent one in at 98 mph and Matt Dominguez sent it out 366 feet, turning a 3-2 deficit into the final margin.

On the mound: Lucas Harrell wasn’t pleased with his stuff, but after giving back a 2-0 lead in a four-batter span, he recovered. The bullpen followed up flawlessly with Mickey Storey, Wesley Wright, Hector Ambriz and Wilton Lopez going three scoreless.

At the plate: All five runs scored on home runs, and the second broke a stretch of 27 consecutive saves converted for Chapman.

Under the radar: Ambriz recorded his first career win as he and Wright combined on the pen’s only perfect inning.